Of note from the point of view of this blogger is my once-client, still-friend Julia Maldonado who defeated her Republican opponent by over 60,000 votes in the race for the 507th Family District Court. I’m so proud of Julia, who was chosen from among several candidates in a “primary” decided by the local Dem precinct chairs. After squeaking by, she campaigned relentlessly. I mean, was that a plane with a Julia banner in the sky? Congrats Julia Maldonado!!!

Also of note was our Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez’s resounding defeat of right-winger Ron Hickman. What came to mind was Hickman’s and equally defeated DA Devon Anderson’s anti-Black Lives Matter rally-slash-press conference after the murder of a local deputy. Congrats to Ed Gonzalez and DA-elect Kim Ogg on running some great campaigns.

Of course, there was also a squeaker of a race for Tax Assessor-Collector which saw Ann Harris Bennett defeat the incumbent Mike Sullivan by a little over 7,000 votes. After a contentious primary, I have a feeling that a few Dems supported Sullivan; nonetheless, Clinton’s tide, and an active campaign by Bennett, was enough to seal the deal. Congrats to Ann.

Of course, many old friends were re-elected, such as Judge Larry Weiman. And other friends were elected, such as Judges-elect Fredericka Phillips and Ursula Hall. The list is long, obviously. Congrats to all of them.

Then there were the “so-close” ones, which weren’t countywide, just as my friend Sherrie Matula in the race for county school board pct 2 who came up short, or Jesse Ybanez in HD-135 who garnered 45% of the vote. Or even Bill McCleod who was everywhere in his race for JP-5 and came up 4000 votes short. And I’ll also give a shout out to former client and good friend Jim Cargas in CD7 who earned a respectable 43%.

And kudos to Anne Sung who will be in a run-off for Houston ISD District VII, and to Mary Ann Perez who returns to the Texas House out of Pasadena.

It’s obvious Harris County can trend blue, even in some of the districts drawn specifically for Republicans. It also seems like Latinos in Harris County made themselves known. A quick look showed turn-out percentage increases in Latino state rep districts of anywhere from a few to 6 points. Of course, Latinos live everywhere in Harris County, so, I’m looking forward to hearing what the ultimate turnout was for Latinos.

One thing is for sure, Latinos did provide much of that margin of victory countywide. And that’s why I’m glad I got to congratulate Mario Salinas and Carlos Duarte and their team at Mi Familia Vota for their voter registration and outreach work, as well as Oscar Hernandez and Carolina Ramirez at United We Dream whose team was working hard knocking on doors. There were so many others, like the great team at Texas Organizing Project whose full-throttle campaign did what needed to be done to cause some huge victories. So, congrats to all who did the GOTV work in and for Harris County.

Obviously, I took a couple of years off from campaigns and even from blogging. I can’t say the top of the ticket excited me, but I knew it would be a catalyst locally. And Democrats winning the straight-ticket race shows more than half of Dem voters still enjoy straight-ticket voting. With Trump in office, I’m not sure how involved I’ll get, but I’m pretty sure I’ll keep blogging. The bottom line, liberals and progressives need to look inward and determine which course to take, at least nationally.

Oh, and with a bluer Harris County, there will be more challenges at the Primary level. I guess that’s healthy as long as we all don’t get crazy like some other parties.

I voted straight ticket Democrat. Yes, I settled at the top after seeing that the 3rd party offerings were just not appealing to me and Trump was just too ugly to allow to win–even in Texas. The rest of the ballot was pretty easy seeing as how, after comparing Party Platforms, it’s the Democrats who have the most forward-thinking platform and candidates.

Now, if you’re one of those “person over party” voters, you have to ask yourself: Do you really want someone who stands by a bigoted platform? “Oh, but that person is nice” just doesn’t do it for me when the Republicans are too willing to be divisive, racist, anti-woman, and a lot more awful things.

So, straight Democrat was the easiest choice. Of course, that doesn’t mean you don’t call them out when they’re playing around once in office. I spent eight years calling out President Obama and the Democrats for not taking a real fight to the other side on immigration reform. Add to that Latin American policies, and Hillary and the Democrats are in for a mouthful (blogful) from this blogger. More on this on Wednesday.

So, get your vote on. And, then, keep an eye on those you support and get into office.

* Yellow Cab: Offering free or discounted rides to the polls. Download the free zTrip app to schedule a ride in advance or contact (713) 236-1111 to have a yellow cab pick you up and take you to the appropriate polling location. The free rides are restricted to hours when the polls are open.

There are a lot of election watch parties going on, too. Search for them on Facebook.

Early voting has been steady all week. After four days, over 293,000 have already voted in-person, while another 73,000+ have returned their ballots by mail. To put things in perspective, that’s about 47% of the total number of early voters in 2012. In only four days. (Did I get that right?)

Some locations are busier than others, but the bottom line is that during early voting, one may vote at any of the early voting locations. As is usually the case, Saturday will be very busy, but it’s a great day to vote. And there are some good folks that want to make sure you get to vote and enjoy some culture. Nothing says culture like TACOS and MARIACHIS! So, here’s a listing of Tacos and Vote polling locations.

It’s been a while, but I’m getting into this whole political thing, again. I did my part and voted at Tracy Gee Center–it only took 35 minutes. If you’re wondering, #ImWithFlo and I voted a straight Democratic ticket. Some may say there might be some good judges on the other side, but for the life of me, I’ll never understand why anyone would want to be in the Party of Trump, and then expect to be considered impartial. So, I voted a straight “D” ticket, except for a couple of races in which I unclicked the Dems and left it blank.

Here are a few pics from the Early Voting Kick-Off at West Gray Center. VOTE EARLY! More pics here.

Posted onMay 26, 2016|Comments Off on Run-Off is Done; Dem Slate is Set

It was the kind of run-off that mostly had good candidates. I picked my favorites and went 3 – 5, and other races, I didn’t even pick. Still, come the time to click [REFRESH], there was a little excitement.

Big congrats to Ed Gonzalez who will be the Democratic nominee for Harris County Sheriff. I’ve known Ed for a while and I’ve always given him my support. I think he’d make a great sheriff; actually, I think he’d be great in any position to which he sets his mind.

In the 61st District Court, Fredericka Phillips had a great election day and squeezed out a 200+ vote victory over Julie Countiss, who had a strong mail ballot showing. This was the most exciting race of the night as we awaited the results and saw an exchange of leads.

Constable Chris Diaz of Pct. 2 had a decisive victory in his race earning over 72% of the vote. Congrats, Constable.

I’d like to give a huge tip of my sombrero to Tanya Makany-Rivera, candidate for JP Pct. 1. She was outspent by a lot and took on some heavies in the local establishment, but she never gave up until the last vote was cast. She’s good people and I hope to see her on the ballot again in the future. Congrats to Eric William Carter who won the race. I met him during the race and he’s personable and friendly, which are a couple of qualities needed on the people’s court. Good luck to him.

To my friend Rabeea Collier–You ran great race for the 11th District Court! I met Rabeea back in 2008 when the Hillary-Obama race was at its hottest–during Senate District Convention. She fought hard for her Obama delegates, while I fought hard for the Hillary delegates. It was quite fun. She’s another candidate I hope to see on the ballot in the future. Congrats to Kristen Hawkins who will carry the Donkey flag toward November. She’ll be a great candidate.

And congrats to all the Dems from the top to the bottom of the ballot.

Today is run-off day, and as is usually the case during low-turn-out elections, polling locations will be consolidated around Harris County. So, you better check with Harris County before you go to your usual election day polling location. While you’re at it, get a copy of your sample ballot.

The Harris County Democratic Party recently had a drawing for ballot positions for the May 24th run-off. We’ve got more than a few races in which to choose those candidates we want on the November ballot. With a couple of months until the run-off, here’s your chance to study the candidates. I’m not sure if there’ll be another chance to record the candidates as I did in the first round, but I’ll try to get some video material from some of my favorite candidates in the near future.

Here are the candidates for the Run-Off that I’m watching:

Railroad Commissioner: Grady Yarbrough, Cody Garrett

State Board of Ed. – 6: Jasmine L. Jenkins, Dakota Carter

Judge, 11th District: Kristen Hawkins, Rabeea Collier

Judge, 61st District: Julie Countiss, Fredericka Phillips

Judge, 215th District: Elaine Palmer, JoAnn Storey

Sheriff: Ed Gonzalez, Jerome Moore

The NIMBY Races that I’m watching include:

JP 1-1: Eric William Carter, Tanya Makany-Rivera

Constable Pct. 2: Christopher Diaz, George Goffney, Jr.

Those in bold, I’ve decided on; however, the rest were races in which I was off the mark in my previous nods, so, I’m hoping to learn more about the candidates before deciding. Will things take a turn for the negative? Will there be attacks? Will it just be a regular run-off where voters vote by slate card??? Stay tuned!

Posted onMarch 4, 2016|Comments Off on That Wreckage That Is The Stace Slate

Just a few thoughts about the wreckage that is the Stace Slate.

Texas House 137. Congrats to my State Rep. Gene Wu on a decisive victory against a right-wing plant. Wu has done a great job of serving his constituents while navigating a tough Texas House that is not D-friendly. The work isn’t done since he still has another right-winger to defeat in November, but Wu has a great team to get him back to Austin.

Huge Win for Ann Harris Bennett. As I stated previously, we had two good people I’ve gotten to know in this race for Tax Assessor-Collector. My family and I have supported Ann in all her races, so, it wasn’t too tough a decision to back her again. There are plenty of reasons for her victory, including ballot name recognition, Dem women’s groups, and a strong showing by African American voters at the polls. Congrats to Ann.

Run-Offs. I was glad to see my friend Rabeea Collier squeeze into the run-off for Judge of the 11th District Court, as well as Ed Gonzalez for Sheriff. That’s right, we’re not done yet. May 24th will have us going back to the polls to finish our job as Democrats. Jasmine Jenkins and Dakota Carter made the run-off in their race for SBOE District 6, and Dems will get to choose between Julie Countiss and Fredericka Phillips for the 61st District Court. There’s also a run-off in the 215th District Court between Elaine Palmer and JoAnne Storey. There’s also a statewide race for Railroad Commish, but I haven’t paid much attention to the candidates. So, stay tuned.

NIMBY Run-Off: Congrats to my friend Tanya Makany-Rivera (and her family) on making the next round in the race for Justice of the Peace Pct. 1. She ran a grassroots race against a well-funded opponent and came a few votes short of the lead. It will be a competitive race that is sure to draw folks out. JP is a people’s court, so, folks need to stay connected to this very local race–perhaps one of the most important on the ballot.

Latinos: It’s sad to say that Democrats won’t have many Latinos on the ballot running countywide or statewide. In fact, there are one of each, along with those that provide district representation (State Rep or State Senator or JP or Constable). Republicans will offer similar numbers state and countywide; however, we’ve got a shot at sending Ed Gonzalez on to November. Let’s get that done. I think Adrian Garcia’s campaign proved that we like to see some brown faces on the ballot.

Other races: Big kudos to Mary Ann Perez whose campaign to return to the Texas House (HD-144) pulled out all the stops to send her straight to November without a run-off. That kind of energy can surely help her defeat the current GOPer in the seat.

KUDOS: Big kudos to the folks who worked the polling locations.

The Slate: It took it in the teeth. 5 Wins, 10 Losses, and 3 Run-Offs. In the NIMBY’s, 3 wins, 3 Losses, and 1 Run-Off. The Run-Off Slate is to come!

Congrats to one of my favorite great minds in the world, Juliet Stipeche, on being named Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Director of Education. It isn’t often when one meets such an intelligent and forward-thinking individual who has been able to push through the political muck and still end up being productive–and for all the right reasons. She’ll be great at this job.

Here’s the press release:

Mayor Sylvester Turner has selected former Houston Independent School District Trustee Juliet Stipeche to serve as Director of Education, a new position within the mayor’s administration.

“Juliet is very passionate about education and children and I share that passion,” said Mayor Turner. “She is a visionary with transformative ideas. Her collaborative approach of working with parents, administrators, business, law enforcement and neighborhoods will help achieve my goal of moving this city forward and reducing the income inequality that is so often the result of deficiencies in the education system.”

Stipeche comes to the mayor’s office from Rice University where she was Associate Director of the Richard Tapia Center for Excellence and Equity. She spent five years as a trustee on the Houston Independent School District Board, including serving as President in 2014. Since 2007, she has been Shareholder of Counsel at Nagorny & Stipeche, P.C. She has written and presented lectures on nearly 20 topics ranging from demanding excellence in education to empowering students in today’s world to educating for equity in Texas. Her law degree was earned at the University of Texas and she graduated magna cum laude from Rice University with a B.A. in Political Science, Policy Studies and Religious Studies

Stipeche’s professional affiliations include membership in the State Bar of Texas, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, the Mexican American Bar Association, the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston, the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, The Texas Association of School Boards and the National School Boards Association.

“The creation of this new position is meant to compliment, not compete, with the hard work of our area school districts,” said Turner. “Creating the strong, well-educated Houston of tomorrow will require everyone working together. Juliet is the perfect choice for ensuring my vision gets implemented.”

“I am excited and deeply honored to work with Mayor Sylvester Turner, who is committed to building a City where educational equity and opportunity exist for every child regardless of zip code,” said Stipeche. “I look forward to collaborating with fantastic community partners to build lasting relationships to promote educational excellence in the City of Houston.”